‘it’s Great to Be 30 After 4000 Years’

Some 100,000 people are expected to march Sunday at the annual Salute to Israel Parade, the theme of which will be “It’s great to be 30 after 4000 years.” Highlighting the celebration, Premier Menachem Begin will greet the public and walk along with the parade procession for several blocks. He will also speak at an Israeli festival which is to take place after the parade at the Central Park Mall.

Other guests will include Ambassador Simcha Dinitz, Ambassador Chaim Herzog, and Consul General Uri Ben Ari. Mayor Edward I. Koch, Sen. Jacob Javits and Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan are also among the many government officials expected to participate in the festivities.

The parade, sponsored by the American Zionist Youth Foundation, will begin at II a.m. at 57th Street and will continue up Fifth Avenue until 86th Street where it will turn right and conclude at Third Avenue. Thirty professional and 25 home-made floats as well as a group of young Israelis touring the country in their musical show, “From Israel With Love,” will participate.

IT WILL BE FREILACH

Immediately following the parade, spectators will make their way to the Central Park Mall and the bandshell area near Sheep’s Meadow at 72nd Street. Among the attractions there will be four stages featuring on-going entertainment beginning at 2 p.m. and continuing non-stop until sunset.

Theodore Bikel and Aris San, both prominent actor-singers, will perform and host the afternoon of entertainment featuring personalities such as Joey Adams, Geraldo Rivera, Elly Stone, Shlomo Carlebach and the casts of the Broadway shows Mummenschanz, Chapter Two and Magic Show. Also appearing at the bandshell will be Jewish performers such as Kol B’seder, a Hebrew rock ensemble, along with the Fabrengen Fiddlers.

In addition to the colorful entertainment, visitors will have the opportunity to sample Israeli food, take demonstration Hebrew or karate lessons, play shesh-besh (Hebrew for backgammon), and buy Israeli arts and crafts products as well as coins, metals, and stamps. Schools and youth groups will be performing, while Ruth Goodman, director of the Israeli Folk Dance Festival, will offer lessons in Israeli folk dancing to interested spectators.

According to Barbara Taylor, the parade director, the Salute to Israel Parade and Israeli festival in Central Park represent “an attempt to bring together all segments of the community who feel an attachment to Israel, in order to celebrate the common bond that Israel provides. May 7th will be an expression of joy at 30 years of Israel’s existence.”

ALL SYSTEMS GO IN PHILLY

The festivities in New York will be a part of nationwide celebrations. In Philadelphia, some 5000 paraders from 70 different organizations, Jewish and non-Jewish, will march on Sunday to begin the day-long series of Israel Independence Day events.

The annual May event, which attracts approximately 20,000 spectators each year, will feature bazaars and entertainment. The keynote speaker for the day will be Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D.Wash.), it was announced by Mrs. Naomi Barsky and Mrs. Florrie Blumenfeld, Israel Independence Day co-chairpersons.

Philadelphians are invited to sample the wares of an Israeli style bazaar featuring exotic Israeli and Jewish foods and arts and crafts. Various personalities will entertain the spectators all afternoon: the popular Israeli musical group Shir Chadash; soprano Barbra Moskow; and the Kalinit Dancers, a professional dance troupe, which will perform dances of European, Oriental, and Middle Eastern origins. Sponsoring the celebration are the Federation of Jewish Agencies, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Philadelphia Zionist Federation.